The following statement was released by the National Office of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America on July 17.
Six years ago, Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17), a scheduled passenger flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was shot down while flying over eastern Ukraine. All 283 passengers and 15 crew were killed by a Russian-made Buk surface-to-air missile launched from Russian-occupied territory in Ukraine. Today, the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA), the representative organization of the over 1.5 million Americans of Ukrainian descent, joins the world community in solemnly commemorating the tragic anniversary of the downing of MH17 and the 298 innocent lives lost on July 17, 2014.
Since the horrific crash, the Joint Investigation Team, led by the Netherlands, Australia, Belgium, Malaysia and Ukraine, have concluded that the missile system involved in shooting down MH17 came from a Russian military brigade. The Boeing 777 was hit by a Russian-manufactured Buk 9M38 surface-to-air missile fired from the territory controlled by Russia’s terrorists in Ukraine, using a mobile launcher trucked in from Russia and hastily returned there. A similar conclusion is widely accepted by Western intelligence.
“The downing of MH17 is an egregious example of the Kremlin’s disregard for innocent life,” stated UCCA President Andriy Futey. “Righteousness must be delivered for the victims of this horrible tragedy and the UCCA applauds the Dutch government’s decision to bring Russia before the European Court of Human Rights for its role in the downing of Flight MH17,” he added.
On this solemn sixth anniversary, the UCCA’s thoughts and prayers go out to the victims’ families, including one American citizen, and we ask God to remember all those who perished and grant them eternal peace.